Main Courses

I have no doubt my grandma knew exactly what she meant by this. I’m just going to spitball for an interpretation, but as you can see from the photo, I basically had an ingredient list to go on, so I could be very very wrong.

We often ate a very heavy meal on erev Yom Kippur. I guess the idea was that indigestion is preferable to hunger? Grandma had several brisket recipes she used, this being one of them. I didn’t realize it came from one of her closest friends, Ethel Hellman, until I was picking through the recipe boxes. Its spattered and illegible state is testament to the fact that it was clearly one of my grandmother’s favorite versions of brisket.

I’m not sure why this recipe is appended with “good luck” at the end, given that the handwriting is my grandmother’s. It’s an odd enough phenomenon that I included it in the title. I like that it can be either poultry or beef given that I eat far more of the former, but the latter is more traditional.

I’ve had a heckuva time reading this spattered piece of paper. I’m pretty sure this is a quick and dirty version of cabbage borscht with lamb shank. But it might be less of a soup and more of a main dish with that flavor profile. I assume large can = 28 oz and a “small can of sauerkraut” is a typical 15 oz. can.

This recipe came together when I had an abundance of shishito peppers and a desire to use my grandmother's very old enameled cast-iron dutch oven. I didn't expect the shishitos to grow nearly so well in my foggy cool conditions, but there they were in abundance, and it made for a lovely dinner. Lingcod is a mild, firm white fleshed fish (although the flesh can actually start out blue or green! it's okay, that's normal). Other firm white fleshed fish like halibut, rock cod, or tilapia can be substituted in for lingcod, here. And similarly, other thin-walled mild-but-with-a-little-kick peppers (like padron or banana) can be subbed in for the shishitos.

This is such an emotional dish for my husband. He was very close with his grandmother, a lovely lovely woman, and she made these for him often because she knew how much he loved them. The recipe is imbued with the love in their relationship.

This recipe is written on the back of a letter from my youngest uncle to my great aunt Bessie, who was such a wonderful person that I named one of my children after her. Herring with milch is a very traditional Eastern European/Ashkenazic dish. Milt/milch is the male fish equivalent of roe, and considered a delicacy. I’m not sure where you can get a herring with milt today, but if you have a fishmonger who sells these… here’s a recipe for how to deal with it to make spiced pickled herring with it.

(suitable for Vegans)

My aunt and uncle lived next door to me in childhood, and I grew up in my aunt’s kitchen as if it were my own. Her Sephardic cooking was very different than the Ashkenazic cooking of the rest of the family, but I thought nothing of this because I ate it so often. Somehow all these different flavor profiles worked just fine together, with little to no distinction being made. I wish more of the world worked together just as easily.

As a North American, turkey winds up being the main course for a lot of holiday events. And every time, I’m forced to reconcile the fact that it’s hard to get birds that are small with the fact that nobody seems to like leftover turkey. This cassoulet is my solution to the problem, and the majority of it can be made in advance, just waiting to receive the roughly 3 lbs of extra bird meat. It seems like a lot of work, but take a look at the number of servings... if you freeze them in smaller portions you have the protein part of truly delicious dinners set for many days, it's a lot less work/meal than it appears at the outset. I have structured it as a 2.5 step process, but, you can do it all together on the same day if you wish, it just takes a long time. The recipe uses a wide 8 quart stockpot, a skillet, a casserole dish, and an instapot specifically to get the beans done quickly, but you could cook the beans in advance conventionally (soak and just let to simmer most of the day or use a crock pot) or even (dare I say it) used canned beans, although the latter generally are a bit mushy. I am assuming you've basted your turkey with a bottle of wine, and that you don't thicken the basting juice with flour or cornstarch. This recipe makes an enormous amount, about 1.75 gallons. It is meant to be portioned out and frozen, as it freezes and reheats very well.

The origin of this recipe is from my aunt's favorite cookbook - a Sephardic cookbook made by the sisterhood of a synagogue in Atlanta, GA. I have modified their recipe to the point that it's unrecognizable, so decided to write it down rather than rely on my pencil notes. If you look at a variety of Jewish cookbooks featuring the cuisine of the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, you will find variations on this dish of ground meat and eggplant. It is the kosher version of moussaka. Because of the prohibition of mixing milk and meat there is no bechamel sauce or cheese, and as a result these kosher versions invariably have a slightly different, lighter taste. The use of cinnamon and nutmeg in a savory dish still imparts the characteristic complexity to these dairy-free moussakas. It is a two-step cooking process, first step on the stove, second step in the oven. This recipe makes a large quantity. Use a 6 quart skillet if you have one. Be warned that a regular 9 X 13 lasagna pan is too small to hold this.

It's now 2019, and I first wrote this page over 20 years ago. I've made a lot of turkeys since then, and some of what I do has changed over the years. It's time for an update. I have switched over to a dry brined technique. It takes a little more planning because the bird needs to sit in the brine, but actually requires very little work. If, like me, you are forced by circumstance to buy frozen turkeys anyway (the only way I can get a good organic kosher turkey in my area), it represents no change because you can brine the bird as it defrosts in your refrigerator. This is a very surefire technique and does not require much skill, so don't be afraid to tackle a turkey for your holiday meal!